Naru Narusegawa
Naru Narusegawa (成瀬川 なる Narusegawa Naru) is a fictional character and the female protagonist in the Love Hina. Known for her fiery temper and tendency to use physical violence to punish central character Keitaro Urashima, she is the first female introduced in the series who is trying to pass the entrance exams to the University of Tokyo or Tokyo U as they refer to it. Her studies along with her developing relationship with Keitaro is one of the focal points in the manga and anime. The word Naru means "to become" while her surname Naruse-gawa means "the Naruse River" or possibly "to become a raging river". Profile At the start of the story, Naru is a 17-year-old prep school student and resident of Hinata Inn. She came to live there when she was just in junior high (because of problems with her step family). Naru is characterized by her signature hair antenna (which is only shared by one other character in the series, Mutsumi), short and hot temper, immense strength and agility despite her size, and physically aggressive nature when it comes to Keitaro. Because of this, Naru is described as being "one fuse short of a cannon". This side of her is usually reserved for Keitaro. The other residents of Hinata Inn, of whom she is protective, care for Naru like a sister. She is reliable, kind, caring, and responsible. They all cheer her on and support her during her studies. As the story progresses, the girls become envious of Naru, because of her beauty and most importantly because of her relationship with Keitaro. Some are driven to the point where they start to dress and act like her. Despite attempts to break them apart, the girls eventually see Naru as a role model to follow and be like in the future. Of all the girls in the Hinata House, she is victimized the most by Keitaro's clumsiness which often results in her being naked or exposed in some fashion, touched or grabbed inappropriately, or lying in very suggestive positions, she is also the one who usually hits Keitaro when he is in this situation with other girls (despite the fact that it's almost never his fault or an accident). This is further tempered by the fact that his room is directly underneath hers, a hole in the ceiling connects the two making for easy access, and they study together most of the time. Once (In Chapter 26), she beat Keitaro up because she entered his room while he was changing and later explained that hitting him had become an involuntary reaction. These situations along with her quick retribution thereafter are a recurring element in the series. Her attacks become increasingly more volatile as the story progresses. Despite her reactions towards him, Naru finds her day to feel highly off-center without any of Keitaro's unintentional perversions. She develops strong feelings for Keitaro, though initially has great difficulty in coming to terms with them. Naru's conflicting emotions causes her to become extremely jealous of his closeness with the other girls while at the same time stay in a state of denial and emotional unsteadiness. Because of her aggressive yet caring personality, Naru is a best known example of the tsundere character archetype. Naru owns a Liddo-kun doll that Keitaro gave her when she was two years old; it was originally Mutsumi's but she gave it to him to give it to "Na-chan" as a love gift. Mutsumi has also given Naru a flying onsen turtle, named Tama-chan, and a kiss as a sign of forgiveness and thanks for helping her get back to her home after the entrance exams. Her character follows along with the beautiful-nerd disposition with the exception that she is actually very spontaneous and sometimes quite clumsy. Like Keitaro, she strove to get into Tokyo University because of a promise she had made to someone in the past. She is very intelligent, having placed Tops in the nation on the college practice entrance exams at the same cram school that Keitaro was enrolled in. However, this was not always so as was shown that several years before the beginning of the story Naru was like Keitaro, having horrible grades and little hope of passing. She was able to overcome this by constantly studying under the guidance of Noriyasu Seta, whom she had a crush on at the time. However, this resulted in a decline in her social activities as well as damaging her eyesight. When not using contacts, she has to wear glasses with thick lenses. Despite her dedication to her studies she failed to pass the Tokyo University entrance exam the first time but was able to pass the second time around. One of her goals is to become a teacher. Towards the end of the series she finally confesses her love for Keitaro. In the anime, she does this several times in the specials but eventually culminates in one moment when she screams it out and kisses Keitaro passionately Category:Protagonists Category:Numericals